Since Apple developed its two finger movement to interface with the cell phone software, another phone manufacturer, say Nokia, would not want to use the same finger movements2. Suppose that a Nokia engineer comes up with the idea of using the skin of finger to focus in on a touchscreen while the fingernail is used to focus out. These touchscreens have a metal- lic sheet to conduct electricity. Touching on this sheet changes the conductivity pattern and these changes are received as commands by the cell phone software. Since skin and fingernail have differ- ent conductivity properties, they can presumably create different conductivity patterns on a sensitive touchscreen.

2There are bunch of patent infringement cases in the cell phone domain: Eastman Kodak Co. claims Apple and (Blackberry producer) Research In Motion Ltd. use Kodak's patented digital-imaging technology. Nokia sued Apple for 10 patent infringe- ments in Oct 09, Apple countersued Nokia for 13 patent infringements in Dec 2009. In Mar 2010, Apple sued HTC Corp (Google's Nexus One producer) for 20 iPhone-related patent infringements.

17

Nokia does not produce touchscreens but buy them from Sharp. Sharp has not produced any sensi- tive touchscreens that can differentiate between a skin's touch and a fingernail's touch. Nokia will have to develop new touchscreeens by integrating Sharp into its product development process which includes four stages: idea generation, feasibility check, design and prototyping. Consider the follow- ing three factors: sophistication of the new component, the degree of integration of the new com- ponent with the product, ability and experience of the supplier. Using these factors to decide and

explain at what stage of product development Nokia needs to involve Sharp.